The dissenting academies were schools, colleges and seminaries (often institutions with aspects of all three) run by
English Dissenters
English Dissenters or English Separatists were Protestant Christians who separated from the Church of England in the 17th and 18th centuries.
A dissenter (from the Latin ''dissentire'', "to disagree") is one who disagrees in opinion, belief and ...
, that is, those who
did not conform to the
Church of England. They formed a significant part of
England's educational systems from the mid-seventeenth to nineteenth centuries.
Background
After the
Uniformity Act 1662, for about two centuries, it was difficult for any but practising members of the
Church of England to gain degrees from the old English universities, at Cambridge and Oxford. The
University of Oxford, in particular, required – until the
Oxford University Act 1854 – a religious test on admission that was comparable to that for joining the Church. The situation at the
University of Cambridge was that a statutory test was required to take a bachelor's degree.
English Dissenters
English Dissenters or English Separatists were Protestant Christians who separated from the Church of England in the 17th and 18th centuries.
A dissenter (from the Latin ''dissentire'', "to disagree") is one who disagrees in opinion, belief and ...
in this context were
Nonconformist
Nonconformity or nonconformism may refer to:
Culture and society
* Insubordination, the act of willfully disobeying an order of one's superior
*Dissent, a sentiment or philosophy of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or entity
** ...
Protestants
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
who could not in good conscience subscribe (i.e. conform) to
the beliefs of the Church of England. As they were debarred from taking degrees in the only two English universities, many of them attended the dissenting academies. If they could afford it, they completed their education at the universities of
Leyden,
Utrecht,
Glasgow or
Edinburgh, the last, particularly, those who were studying medicine or law. Many students attending Utrecht were supported by the
Presbyterian Fund.
[C. G. Bolam, Jeremy Goring, H.L. Short and Roger Thomas; ''The English Presbyterians from Elizabethan Puritanism to Modern Unitarianism''; London, George Allen & Unwin, 1968.]
While the religious reasons mattered most, the geography of university education also was a factor. The plans for a
Durham College of
Oliver Cromwell provided an attempt to break the educational monopoly of
Oxbridge
Oxbridge is a portmanteau of Oxford and Cambridge, the two oldest, wealthiest, and most famous universities in the United Kingdom. The term is used to refer to them collectively, in contrast to other British universities, and more broadly to de ...
, and while it failed because of
the political change in 1660, the founder of
Rathmell Academy was
Richard Frankland, who may have been involved in the Durham College project. Almost as soon as dissenting academies began to appear, Frankland was backed by those who wished to see an independent university-standard education available in the north of England.
Tutors in the academies were initially drawn from
the ejected ministers of 1662, who had left the Church of England after the passing of the
Uniformity Act, and many of whom had English university degrees. After that generation, some tutors did not have those academic credentials to support their reputations, although in many cases other universities, particularly the Scottish institutions that were sympathetic to their Presbyterian views, awarded them
honorary doctorates.
Funding
There were several sources of funding. Some of these funds gave their trustees the option of sending young men either to dissenting academies, or to universities abroad. An academy, to attract such students, had to offer a course of instruction approved of by the Board for its purposes. Funding might be central or local, and there could be doctrinal as well as practical reasons why a given academy was sent students with financial support.
The Common Fund Board, founded in 1689, gave scholarships to
Presbyterian and
Congregational candidates for the ministry; its successor, the Presbyterian Fund Board, continued into the middle of the nineteenth century. An education at a dissenting academy was not the only option for the Fund Board, since a candidate could also be sponsored at a Scottish university, or elsewhere. A gap opened up between the Presbyterians and Congregationalists, as the
Independents started to be called, for reasons of doctrine.
The Independent or Congregational Fund Board was established in 1695 to assist poor ministers, and to give young men who had already received a
classical education, the theological and other training preparatory to the Christian ministry.
An early sign of the division between Presbyterians and Independents was the fate of the
Rathmell Academy after the death of Frankland in 1698: it migrated to Manchester under
John Chorlton, while another academy under
Timothy Jollie, an Independent, operated at
Attercliffe (one of the locations of Frankland's migratory academy) from the 1690s onwards.
In 1730, the
King's Head Society
The King's Head Society was an 18th-century organisation funding dissenting academies in England.
The King's Head Society was a group of laymen named after the pub behind the Royal Exchange at which they met. From 1730 they worked to promote Ca ...
was founded by laymen in London (after the pub behind the
Royal Exchange at which they met) who were dissatisfied with the management of the Congregational Fund Board. The chief point of objection was the Academies' rule which limited students to those who had already passed through a
classical training, including the demanding and lengthy training period required for learning to read Greek and Latin texts. The King's Head Society resolved to found an academy where young men without a general classical education would receive it during their first two years and could then proceed to the usual classical-theological course.
The
Coward Trust from 1743 funded
Daventry Academy and a London academy under
David Jennings, but was distinct from the ordinary Congregational funding.
Legal position
The letter of the law could make the running of a dissenting academy difficult or impossible. In the general framework according to which schools must be licensed by the bishop, and ministers (who made up most of the teaching staff) could be in legal trouble for the activities that held together their congregations, some academies simply shut down. For a short period (1714 to 1719) the
Schism Act was in force, and aimed precisely to do that; but the troubles of the academies were mostly before this legislation.
Proceedings in
ecclesiastical courts were quite common in the 17th century, for example in the case of the tutor
Benjamin Robinson. The degree of religious toleration in the later half of the seventeenth century varied considerably according to laws passed by Parliament, and also in line with the public mood. Some academies, such as that of John Shuttlewood, operated in remote areas of the countryside, and some tutors were required to leave towns where they had previously performed their ministry, for example under the
Five Mile Act. The
Toleration Act of 1689 under the reign of
William III William III or William the Third may refer to:
Kings
* William III of Sicily (c. 1186–c. 1198)
* William III of England and Ireland or William III of Orange or William II of Scotland (1650–1702)
* William III of the Netherlands and Luxembourg ...
and
Mary II
Mary II (30 April 166228 December 1694) was Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland, co-reigning with her husband, William III & II, from 1689 until her death in 1694.
Mary was the eldest daughter of James, Duke of York, and his first wife ...
did not mention the dissenters' academies, and proceedings continued against dissenting tutors throughout the 1690s. There were also cases of actions against dissenting
grammar schools, for example the proceedings against
Isaac Gilling in the 1710s. In 1723 the ''
regium donum'', initially a grant to support Irish Presbyterians, became a national subsidy, and subsequently dissenting academies were more generally accepted.
Nature of the academies
Several early academies became associated with particular theological positions.
Richard Frankland of
Rathmell Academy and
Timothy Jollie of
Attercliffe, founders of two of the most celebrated early academies, opposed any departure from
Calvinist theology
Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...
. It was rumoured that Jollie even forbade mathematics "as tending to scepticism and infidelity", although several of his students later became extremely proficient in the mathematics.
Some academies were more broadminded in their teaching methodology, and in their attitudes towards possible methods of church governance. Indeed, several students at dissenting academies later became Anglicans. The dissenters themselves argued that their academies had stricter discipline than the universities, and were perceived by many to have promoted a more contemporary curriculum based on the practical sciences and modern history. In some of the larger academies French and High Dutch (German) were taught. The tutors and the students of the dissenting academies contributed in fundamental ways to the development of ideas, notably in the fields of theology, philosophy, literature, and science.
These academies were funded partly by fees for tuition and lodging, as many of them were run in large houses as boarding establishments. They were also funded by philanthropic Dissenters such as
William Coward (1647–1738), whose "will set up a
trust fund ‘for the education and training up of young men … to qualify them for the ministry of the gospel among the Protestant Dissenters’, thus continuing the financial support he had given to such students in his lifetime". Sometimes this funding was organised along the lines of subscribers.
The Independent or Congregational Fund Board was established in 1695 (i) to assist poor ministers, (2) to give young men who had already received a classical education, the theological and other training preparatory to the Christian ministry.
In 1730, the King's Head Society was founded by laymen in London who were dissatisfied with the management of the Fund Academies. The chief point of objection was the Fund Academies rule which limited its students to those who had already passed through a classical training. The founder of the King's Head Society resolved to found an academy with a six years' course, where young men, without a general classical education, would receive it during the first two years and could then proceed to the usual classical-theological course.
In the nineteenth century the academies’ original purpose to provide a higher education was largely superseded by the founding of the
University of London and the provincial universities, which were open to dissenters, and by the reform of Oxford and Cambridge.
Notable examples
London area
Newington Green, in those days a village north of London, had several academies.
Charles Morton (1626–1698), the educator and minister who ended his career as vice-president of
Harvard College, ran an influential academy;
the ''
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' judges Morton's "probably the most impressive of the dissenting academies
rior to 1685 enrolling as many as fifty pupils at a time". The ''ODNB'' goes on to describe its advanced and varied curriculum (religion, classics, history, geography, mathematics, natural science, politics, and modern languages) and a well-equipped laboratory, and even "a bowling green for recreation". Lectures were given in English, not Latin, and
Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe (; born Daniel Foe; – 24 April 1731) was an English writer, trader, journalist, pamphleteer and spy. He is most famous for his novel ''Robinson Crusoe'', published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its ...
, one of Morton's students, praised its attention to the mother tongue.
Samuel Wesley the elder, a contemporary of Defoe's, described his teacher "as universal in his learning", although he also attacked the academy on uncertain grounds for promoting king-killing doctrines.
James Burgh, author of ''The Dignity of Human Nature'' and ''Thoughts on Education'', opened his dissenting academy there in 1750. (His widow helped
Mary Wollstonecraft establish her school in the village.)
Anna Laetitia Barbauld, so closely associated with other leading dissenting academies, chose to spend the latter third of her life in Newington Green.
Homerton College, Cambridge started life as the dissenting academy
Independent College, Homerton, then another village north of London.
West Country
The
Tewkesbury Academy
The Tewkesbury Academy was an important centre of learning for the Dissenters of Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England during the early century. It was run by Samuel Jones and its students included both Dissenters such as Samuel Chandler and thos ...
, set up by
Samuel Jones, had as its students both
dissenters such as
Samuel Chandler and those who became significant establishment figures such as
Archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...
Thomas Secker and
Joseph Butler.
Sheriffhales Academy, Shropshire (1663–1697) under John Woodhouse.
Midlands
Philip Doddridge was chosen in 1723 to conduct the academy being newly established at
Market Harborough. It moved many times, and was known as Northampton Academy, Doddridge died in 1751 and the academy continued.
and is probably best known as
Daventry Academy, which
Joseph Priestley attended. The academy ended up in London under the name of
Coward College, as it was largely supported by the bequest of
William Coward who died 1738.
The college was one of three that amalgamated in 1850 into
New College London.
Hugh Farmer was educated at this college in its earlier days.
Shrewsbury Academy was started by James Owen in 1702. Owen died 1706 and his place was filled by Samuel Benion. The academy continued until Benion's death in 1708.
North of England
Warrington Academy led eventually, via
Manchester and
York, to
Harris Manchester College, Oxford. In 1757,
John Seddon
John Seddon is a British occupational psychologist and author, specialising in change in the service industry. He is the managing director of Vanguard, a consultancy company he formed in 1985 and the inventor of ' The Vanguard Method'. Vangua ...
, a young minister in Warrington, established the academy. Among the tutors were
Joseph Priestley (1761–67) and
Johann Reinhold Forster, a German scholar and naturalist. Forster went with Captain Cook in his second voyage round the world.
Rathmell Academy, which had half a dozen homes, was set up by
Richard Frankland in 1670.
The school moved to
Attercliffe, a suburb of
Sheffield,
Yorkshire, leaving it at the end of July 1689, in consequence of the death of his favourite son, and returning to Rathmell. His pupil
Timothy Jollie, independent minister at Sheffield, began
Attercliffe Academy,
[Jollie, Timothy]
, '' Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' on a more restricted principle than Frankland's, apparently excluding mathematics "as tending to scepticism".
[ ]
See also
*
List of dissenting academies (1660–1800)
*
List of dissenting academies (19th century)
This is a list of dissenting academies in England and Wales, operating in the 19th century. Over this period the religious disabilities of English Dissenters were lifted within the educational system, and the rationale for the existence of a syst ...
*
List of Friends schools
*
Congregational Board of Education
References
Further reading
Dissenting Academies Online a database sponsored by Dr Williams's Centre for Dissenting Studies and Queen Mary's University London.
*Mark Burden, ''A Biographical Dictionary of Tutors at the Dissenters' Private Academies, 1660-1729''; Dr Williams's Centre for Dissenting Studies, 201
*David J. Appleby; ''Black Bartholomew's Day: Preaching, Polemic and Restoration Nonconformity''; Manchester University Press, 2007;
*J. W. Ashley Smith; ''The Birth of Modern Education: The Contribution of the Dissenting Academies, 1660–1800''; London, Independent Press, 1954
*
Joshua Toulmin; ''An historical view of the state of the Protestant dissenters in England, and the progress of free enquiry and religious liberty''; Bath & London, 1814
*A bibliography relating to the education of Unitarian ministers, and especially its history, can be foun
here
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dissenting Academies
History of education in England
Nonconformism